UPDATE: HP replied again this morning from Germany to let us know that this actually is real. They've contracted with an outside agency - Greenova Services GmbH - to handle the refunds. We still think it's ridiculous that they're asking for bank account info (seriously, what's so hard about a check?), but it's even more insane that the various arms of HP are so disparate that they couldn't communicate effectively that this was in fact a real refund program. Here's hoping they've called off the legal hounds that they ended up sending after themselves.

So to take advantage of the desire for money back, some lowly scammers out of Germany decided to put together a fake “HP Refund Program” website to lure in these scorned TouchPad buyers. Red flags went up immediately when we saw the web address (not the typical HP gobbledygook URL) and then even more when we saw that the site was asking for bank account information.

We reached out to HP to confirm our suspicions, and as we suspected, it’s a fake. These crafty buggers managed to create an HP-looking website with the sole purpose of scamming disgruntled TouchPad buyers. Truly despicable. Thankfully, HP’s reaching out with their legal stick and is going to whack this site up the head.

Two things, one: If you want a refund for the price difference on your TouchPad, contact the retailer from which you purchased it. Two: If you gave any of your information to a website like the one we’ve described (we’re not going to link to it), immediately contact your bank and let them know that your account may have been compromised.